I recently acquired a used Bravo, the one that was posted for sale on this forum. I had pretty much decided to buy a new one next spring when I saw the post with the one for sale in Baton Rouge, La., which is only about 2 hours away from me. I called Josef first thing the next morning (Saturday) and arranged to go and get it Sunday afternoon. Josef has a new Tandem Island on the way and just wanted to get rid of the Bravo. He made me an awesome deal (thanks Josef) and I hauled it home.

There is a crack in the deck near the aft stbd. cupholder, but it's repairable. Other than that the boat is in very good shape. The sail battens got left on the beach the last time he used it, so I ordered those on Monday and called Hobie for some plastic stock to repair the crack.

The repair material showed up from Hobie on Thursday, but they messed up and sent me the Dune color! I called them back and have the white stuff on the way. The battens came in on Friday, and during the week I had cleaned up and tweaked a few things, rigged a mast crutch and tie-down system so I can carry the assembled mast and sail on the utility trailer. Everything was ready to go, and there was some wind, so we headed out to the lake on Saturday.

I spent 2 or 3 hours on the water with winds of about 8-10 mph. She moved surprisingly well, but not quite enough wind to fly a hull. I did get one out of the water briefly a couple of times though. The bravo is actually more stable than I expected. Overall a good first sail. With the light winds it was a pretty dry ride, and there was very little water in the hull from the crack. I have a few more tweaks and modifications in mind, and still need to repair the crack, but I've got a really nice little boat for a small fraction of the cost of a new one. It even came with the boom, which I didn't try out yet, and the Hobie beach cart.

Looking forward to getting back out this weekend if there's any wind. This time of year in south Louisiana it's a crap shoot, but as fall approaches we get some nice sailing days.

...I spent 2 or 3 hours on the water with winds of about 8-10 mph. She moved surprisingly well, but not quite enough wind to fly a hull. I did get one out of the water briefly a couple of times though. The bravo is actually more stable than I expected. Overall a good first sail. With the light winds it was a pretty dry ride....

I totally agree with your statement here. Before I bought the Bravo, I didn't think much of it. I think people talk it down a little bit because it's performance isn't on par with the 16's and the Getaway's. But it's certainly a fun boat. So simple to use, simple to rig, stable, and faster than I had thought it would be too.

I was sailing alongside a laser, the other day, and kept pace without too much difficulty. I was also much drier because I was much higher off the water.